Economy in Brief

The overall indicator of the business climate in France was 104 in November, unchanged from October. The indicator is now 4 points above its long term average and 33 points above its low point of 71 in March 2009, but still below its [...]

The FLASH PMI measures for Services and Manufacturing in EMU outran expectations in November. Not only did they not fall as had been expected, but their increases were outsized. The Services index advanced from 53.35 to 55.20 making [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that October sales of existing homes fell 2.2% to 4.430M following an unrevised 10.0% September increase. October sales fell short of Consensus expectations for 4.48M. Total sales include [...]

Real GDP increased 2.5% (SAAR) last quarter which was slightly better than the advance report of a 2.0% rise. The gain roughly matched expectations for a 2.4% rise according to the Bloomberg survey. So far since the last recession GDP [...]

In the latest report, the National Association for Business Economics indicates that moderate U.S. economic growth will continue through next year. Expectations for 2.6% growth are unchanged from the previous forecast. Continuing to [...]

Eurostat's flash estimate of Consumer Confidence shows an improvement for November, although the pessimists still outweigh the optimists. After remaining steady at a balance of opinion of -11% for the past three months, the flash [...]

For Belgium it may not be a home run but it is definitely a hit for extra bases. The November Consumer confidence reading from the Belgian National Bank survey is up to zero which is well above the level of -6 which is the 10-Year [...]

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) improved last month to its highest level since August. Regardless, the index remained down sharply since its March peak, suggesting that the economy's recovery has lost forward momentum. [...]